bac quotes

Which black

man should rule? Zulu or Xhosa?

The hood had a

social hierarchy based on where you live

A light-skinned child

with a black woman would raise too many questions

South African mixed

people came to be classified as their own seperate group, neither black nor white but what we called ‘colored’

White and black

and brown were like types of chocolates

Keep on

marrying lighter and don’t touch the chocolate.. if you’re lucky, you can become white

The worst way

to insult a coloured person was to infer that they were black

The curse

that coloured people carry is having no clearly defined heritage to go back to

Racism exists

and you have to pick a side.. life will force you to pick a side

There is something

magical about Soweto. Yes it was a prison designed by our oppressors

It’s a

hopeful place (Soweto)

She’d steal

food from the dogs

My mom never

gave me an inch. Anytime I got in trouble it was tough love

I was blessed

with another trait I inherited from my mother, her ability to forget the pain in her life

She never let me

see us as victims. We were victims.. Victims of apartheid, Victims of abuse.

The hood has

a wonderful sesnse of community to it as well. Everyone knows everyone.

I was never scared

of her (Patricia). I felt terror (Abel),

The hood made me realise

crime succeeds because crime does the one thing the government doesn’t do, crime cares.. crime doesn’t discriminate.

Women

held the community together

Our stories

start off identically

The experience of

being unwanted.. changes how you see yourself

My mom raised me

as if there was no limitations on where I could go or what I could do

Abel wanted a

traditional marriage with a traditional wife

They were men

first, and police second

As a nation, we recognised

the power of women but in the house they were expected to submit and obey

That was my

mom. Don’t fight the system. Mock the system

Being more of a

man, doesn’t mean your woman has to be less than you

Language brings with it

an identity and culture

I learned that the

quickest way to bridge the race gap was through language

Because of my colour

they thought I was coloured, but by speaking the same language meant I belonged to their tribes

I became a

chameleon. My colour didn’t change but I could change your perception of my colour

If you talk to

a man in his language, it goes straight to his heart

English is the language

of money, the difference between a fine or prison

My mom thought

everything was funny.. no subject too dark or too painful